A Lad An' A Lamp
Production Notes Length: Two Reel Producer: Robert F. McGowan Director: Robert F. McGowan Photography: Art Lloyd Editor: Richard Currier Titles: None Writer: Hal Roach Released: December 17, 1932 Studio: M-G-M Main Cast * Bobby De War * Donald Haines - Toughie * Dorothy DeBorba * George McFarland * George Billings * Henry Hanna * John Collum * Matthew Beard * Richard Jackson * Richard Moore * Robert Beard * Robert Hutchins Supporting Cast * Charley Young - Fruit vendor * Philip Sleeman - Magician * Dick Gilbert - Police Officer/Construction Worker * Efe Jackson - Pedestrian * Harry Bernard - Police Officer/Store Proprietor * Henry Bowen - Vaudeville Audience * Jack Hill - Vaudeville Audience/Police Officer * James Mason - Vaudeville Audience * James C. Morton - Police Officer * Lillian Rich - Narration The Short Plot: The gang has set out to find Aladdin's Lamp, abducting and taking every lamp they can find to try and conjure a jinni. When they rub one at the same time as an explosion from a nearby road crew, they believe they finally have it. Stymie wishes for a watermelon, and a good-natured fruit vendor rolls one over to him. The kids believe in the magic even more when the magician from a nearby vaudeville show overhears them and promises to grant them wishes, appearing to scare off a bully trying to steal the watermelon. All Spanky wants to see is Cotton turned into a monkey, and thanks to the chimp from the show, this seems to happen. The gang chases after the monkey to have him changed back to normal, bringing round cops into the chase who nearly shoot the monkey who has taken refuge atop a lamp post, but Cotton and Spanky emerge just in time, the two of them coming out of hiding from a sidewalk beanery having eaten their fill of snacks. Quotes: * "Bring me another one, and keep your fingers out of it." - Spanky * "People don't believe in magicians anymore, outside of kids." - The Magician * "Hey, Dick, how far is it to Mexico?" - Wheezer after breaking his mother's lamp * "I wish Cotton was a monkey. I wish Cotton was a monkey." - Spanky * "I'm going to knock your block off!!" - Stymie after Spanky "changes" Cotton into a monkey * "It ain't funny to me, sister, I gotta sleep with him." - Stymie Notes/Trivia: * Parts of this short were reworked from Chicken Feed and reused again in Three Smart Boys. * According to Richard Moore, Jiggs playing the chimp in this short took a cigarette and burned himself on it. The pain made him difficult to work with so he went away a while, not returning until Divot Diggers. * The brownstone in this short is the same one used in the Laurel & Hardy film, "Pack Up Your Troubles." Sequence * Previous Short: Birthday Blues * Next Short: Fish Hooky ---- Category: Talkie Category: 1932 Category: Police-Involved Shorts Category: Fantasy-Themed Shorts